Rear dome light?
 

I have a 1986 420SEL. When I open the front doors the front dome light comes on, that is normal I suppose. When I open the rear doors the rear dome light does not operate. I can turn on the rear dome light via a switch located on the front console. Also my rear power seat does not operate under any circumstance. Can someone point me in the right direction?:(

I don't know about the seat, but the rear dome light in my MB is operated by a switch on the front console, next to the antennae switch. (It's not a 420SEL and has no rear doors but yours may be similar) The doors don't operate the rear light. Not sure if they do on the sedans or not.

bjcsc
Thank you. So far mine operates exactly as yours does. I would hate to troubleshoot something that is not malfunctioning. If no one with a 420 or 560SEL responds to this thread by this weekend I will start tracing wires. :)

I had a 300SD and I believe the read doors operated the rear dome light ..... (and of course this additional posting will re-promote this thread back up again as well .....heh heh ....)

rear dome light head-ache
 

I had the same problem when i bought my '90 300E back in July....the rear dome light would only come on with the dash switch....being super anally-retentive, i just had to fix it. Interestingly, the only time which it did work was after having driven in a monsoon. After pulling out lots of wires and carpeting and cursing having bought the stupid car, i finally found what was wrong, which of course was the last place i looked. Underneith the front-passenger carpet and under the plastic shield, there is a big multi-plug that connects the wires coming from the back of the car to wires coming from the front of the car. I opened up the cover of the female side of this multi-plug and i discovered a resistor/connection that had shorted out. So, I soddered the connection back and then the rear dome light started working when the rear doors were opened. Later on, i found out from somewhere that there are a couple holes in the firewall for some reason or another above the passenger footwell area, and i am thinking that during hard or deep rain, water can seep through these holes and run down to the multi-plug and that is what shorted the resistor/connection thingy. Hope this helps -- MIKEY

mikey-az
That is the type of info that money can't buy, or at least I'd rather not pay for:) . This forum rules:) :) Thank you for your help.

To confirm, the rear dome light comes on when I open a rear door in any of my MBs... all 126s.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

sixto
I guess it is time for me to dribble my basketball through my electrical minefield.:(

reply
 

Let us know how it goes... -- Mike

Do you know George Curtis in Visalia? Good guy and he has a MB shop.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

sixto
I do not know Mr. Curtis. What is his contact info?

I stripped the left rear bolt on the driver's seat so i did not get to check out the motor of the power seat. Does anybody have a suggestion on how to remove that bolt. :(